And so today and tomorrow the Sun finally perfects its opposition to Saturn.

* As I've lately been in a deeper study of the I Ching in relationship to the daily transits, I found this morning's reading to be especially stern, but also straight to the point. Often the I Ching, for as riddling and multivalent as it can be, cuts right to the heart of the matter.

* Today's reading started with Hexagram 24, called "Return," but I knew right away this wasn't the focus of the reading as the 6th foreboding line was changing.

* Hexagram 24 is about returning to where we started, returning to proper principles, returning to recharge, returning to our integrity, returning for a time of rest and recuperation, or it's about the return of positive energy after a time of depletion and hardship.

* The 6th changing line reads, "Confusedly turning back. Misfortune. There are calamity and trouble. Engaging in mobilizing the multitude; in the end: a great defeat. To the ruler of the state, Misfortune. Ten years: Unable to launch out again."

* This line is about someone who has lost their way and missed an opportunity to turn back from error, potentially even repeating a fatal mistake, or trying to remedy a bad situation and making it even worse. It is one of the most foreboding lines in the I Ching because it suggests calamities that will take many years to repair.

* Alfred Huang writes, "In this line, the upper gua, earth, represents the land of a country. The uppermost line represents the place e of Heaven and an emperor. For this reason, the Yao Text says that the misfortune will be in the form of natural disasters as well as calamities caused by the weakness of the emperor. The message of this line is that at the turning point, if one obstinately sticks to the wrong course and refuses to turn back, there will be great danger and misfortune."

* The 27th hexagram called "Providing Nourishment," follows, and is a picture of an open mouth. In this context it is a warning about what comes in and out of our mouth, or it is a more direct divinatory picture of the ruler making some kind of statement, proclamation, or announcement related to all of the above (probably something returning to an old error, an old method, or strategy, that this time may prove fatal in a longer chain of events).

* The 27th hexagram is also about nutrition, about what we take in and what comes out of us (or our mouths) as a result of what we take into ourselves.

* Today's hexagram sequence is to my mind addressing something brewing within the nation's capital and the ongoing saga of President Trump. I've tried to bow out of the drama for a while, focusing on the inner work we are each here to do regardless of whatever daily news fix is being offered to us!

* On the headlines of CNN this morning was a story about the GOP baseball practice being attacked by a gunman. Right next to it were already questions about how this would effect the GOP's view on guns. It's wild how little time we allow ourselves to really feel what's happened. Commentary becomes almost meaningless because it is so instantaneous. We are prisoners to our stories sooner than we understand them.

* On a personal level, the sequence is warning us not miss an opportunity for personal reform, and to be mindful that we take any warning shots being fired around us as indications that it is time to get our lives, our lifestyles, our values, and our actions, back in line, especially when we know where they need to be but we are willfully resisting.

Remember, the Sun/Saturn opposition can be read from many different angles. Today's picture of the planets, vis a vis the I Ching, seems to speak to the critical mass of the moment and offers us a starker picture. Saturn may be teaching the Mercurial Sun to have some respect, to understand boundaries, to discipline itself a little more, and there will be no wiggling out of it with clever quips and old self-indulgences or sleight of hand. On the other hand, Saturn may represent some kind of stuck, passionate, ignorance, or some kind of willful iron-clad denial pattern, and the Sun in Mercury's sign is forcing some sunshine, some open-mindedness, and some practical street-smart common-sense into Saturn's dogmatic sphere.

Or, a little of both...​Prayer: Teach us to be mindful of what we allow in and what comes out. Teach us to return to the right path whenever the call is there. Liberate us from the spirits of denial and willful obstinance.

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Author

Adam Elenbaas is a professional astrologer and the founder of the Nightlight Astrology School. Adam holds an MA and MFA in English and Creative Writing and is one of the founding writers at RealitySandwich. To learn more about Adam, click here.